I’ve got an interesting Thursday coming up, where I will not use a car for an entirework day. I've decided to blog a blind introduction, so I can be transparent with my planning - and we'll see how everything shakes out.

Image courtesy of AIA Dallas.  I'm on the Communities by Design committee, so I am assuming use here is acceptable. — *Image courtesy of AIA Dallas. I'm on the Communities by Design committee, so I am assuming use here is acceptable.*

Thursday will not be unlike most days, where I need to be several places during the course it. I am not modifying my previous schedule at all, but rather I will plan my trips around the day using mass transit and my bike.

It will be an interesting time. I plan on taking my commuter bike to my morning work session at 5 and simply bike back home, get ready for work, and take the bus downtown. I'll spend most of the day downtown, from about 9-2, then I will take the train up to the office, take it back down to a gathering for this event, and head home.

It looks like it will all work, but I have to admit I have not taken mass transit for work in Dallas since I lived in The Village and worked at Corgan, which was probably 1999-2002 or so. At the time I walked a pretty good distance to the DART station at Lovers and 75 and it took me right to the office.

I’m going to try to document this real time and eventually put it on a blog post. Should be fun!

Or really stressful.

Or eye opening.

I have to be at Dallas City Hall from about 10-11, then I will have lunch and go to the gym downtown, then another hearing at City Hall at around 2. Although I could work from another spot downtown or even head back to the home office, I am choosing to head up to my office, which takes about an hour with the Red Line and a bus. This will let me know what the experience is like to actually commute to the office. If the trip is an hour, sometimes that is as long as the drive home, so I may consider doing this every so often, as I do have a company car at the office. When days work out like a normal office day (somewhat of a rarity), I could potentially use mass transit during the rush hours, giving me back some time to continue to work, write a blog post, or something else more valuable than sitting in a car. Additionally, I've considered taking my bike to my morning work sessions for quite a while, but up until this point I have not done so. My challenge will be packing for the day: having a change of clothes for the gym on top of my normal payload of stuff I carry around will be interesting; however it is a day I will not need to carry around diapers, toys, and other fun stuff involving my son.

So I suppose this whole event is doing what it is supposed to, at least for me. I’ve been meaning to try all of this in one way or another, and participating in this day is “forcing” me to try it all out. I wanted to also try some bike share, but I do not see how that will fit in, as at some point I have to be true to the needs of my schedule - I am not going to waste my time walking halfway to my morning work spot looking for a bike and will instead just ride my own, and sadly there is no such bike sharing in Richardson to get me from the railway to the office (otherwise I would do it, but instead I will take the bus). Looks to be a gorgeous day for it as well!

AIA Dallas's Ditch Your Car DFW - Intro